Teddy Dursley
by RedPandaPatronus
Summary: Teddy decides to find out for himself what Harry's childhood was like.


Teddy Dursley

It was finally too much. Harry didn't talk about his childhood often, but when he did, Teddy always felt like hexing Petunia and Vernon. Too bad, since Teddy was only fourteen and couldn't do magic outside of Hogwarts.

On Teddy's fourteenth birthday, he met the Potters and the Weasleys in Hogsmeade to celebrate. He had asked the adults in his family to tell stories about the day they turned fourteen. Ron had recalled it being the day he found a certain rat, and Ginny remembered it being the day Neville asked her to the Yule Ball. Hermione was oddly quiet, just saying she remembered being happy to spend it with Ron and Harry. She kept glancing at Harry, uncomfortable with something about the situation. When it was Harry's turn to say, he grinned. "It was the best birthday up to that point in my life. The Weasleys, Hermione, and Sirius sent me enough food to last a month."

If he'd known, oh Merlin, if he'd known, Teddy never would have asked. "Why'd they send you so much food, Harry?"

"Dudley was on a diet."

"So? Why does that have anything to do with you?"

For the first time, Harry tensed up. "Well, Ted, Dudley always got the better deal."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Looking back, Teddy cringed at his nosiness.

Harry shrugged. "What it means," Ron spat. "Is that those bastards always fed their own son more. If Dud was on a diet, Harry was eating next to nothing."

"Honestly, Ron, was that necessary?" Hermione hissed, looking at Teddy and the smaller children sitting around him.

"It's the truth," Ginny said calmly.

"Yes but—"

"Teddy asked," Harry said. "He's got a right to have his questions answered."

Now, Teddy was burning with more questions. How often did the Dursley's refuse to feed Harry? Was he ever afraid of starving to death? Did they do anything worse? He wanted nothing more than to ask them, but he hesitated to in front of James, Albus, Rose, Hugo, and Lily. Harry was their biological parent (or uncle), and they were so small they wouldn't understand.

"Thanks, Harry," Teddy said easily. "So, James, what happened on your fourteenth birthday?"

The six-year-old grinned without missing a beat. "I blew up a whole classroom at Hogwarts."

Everyone laughed. Leave it to James Sirius Potter to break the tension.

_Teddy has a right to have his questions answered. _Teddy wanted to know everything about his godfather's life. Harry was so brave and kind. Teddy wondered where he came from, what life had been like for him at the Dursely's. Had he had any friends? Didn't anyone care when he was sick or hurt? Did the Dursleys—oh, God, did they beat him? He knew Harry would never refuse to answer his questions, but he didn't like the tense look Harry had had earlier. The last thing Teddy wanted to do was hurt his godfather—Merlin, Teddy would rather die!

_There has to be another way to answer my questions._ Teddy wracked his brains for an answer. He could ask Ron, Hermione, or Ginny, but none of them had been there. The only people he could ask besides Harry were…

A plan worthy of Uncle George, James Potter the First, and Sirius Black combined formed in Teddy's head. He was Metamorphagus, the only problem would be getting there.

Thestral? Teddy shook his head. Some Muggles could see them, and he didn't want to risk it. Broom? Teddy gulped. He'd inherited his mum's flying ability, which was abysmal at best. Portkey? Now there was an idea. Ted could ask a seventh year to make it for him…but wait, that was illegal. Floo? He'd heard the story of Ron flooing into a Muggle fireplace and it didn't go well.

Teddy would drive. That would be the only way. He knew he was technically too young, but Mr. Granger had taught him to drive on a visit last summer. Teddy got on very well with the Grangers, as he was fascinated by Muggle culture.

Teddy scrawled a quick note:

_Dear Mr. and Mrs. Granger,_

_Thank you so much for teaching me to drive this summer. I am in a bit of a situation, and I was wondering if I could borrow the car next weekend? I need to drive to Little Whinging and get some questions answered._

_I will drive the car carefully and be sure to make myself look older._

_Your honorary grandson,_

_Ted Lupin_

The note looked stupid. Teddy crumpled it up. The Grangers were wonderful, but they were rule followers. Besides, how could they send their car to Scotland? No, a car definitely would not suffice.

Teddy thought about it long and hard. He'd need an adult accomplice for this one. None of his family would be supportive, except maybe Uncle George, but even he would ask questions. Oh, Teddy wished his father was still around. His father would help him apparate wherever he needed to go.

Suddenly it hit him. Teddy knew exactly who would help in this situation.

_Dear Luna,_

_Harry always writes you when situations get really strange. I have a lot of questions about my godfather that I don't feel good about asking. I have some other people I want to ask, but they are Muggles, so I can't invite them to Hogsmeade. I don't have a way to get there, do you think you can help?_

_Thanks, Luna._

_Ted_

Teddy tied the note to his owl, Curtis's leg.

A reply note came faster than he was expecting. Teddy thought Luna was in Africa or something.

_Dear Teddy,_

_Thanks for writing. I will meet you in the Hogs Head this Saturday. I have an idea about what you're up to. Good for you, Lupin, we've all wanted to do it for years._

_Luna_

When Saturday came, Teddy walked into the Hogshead. He was the only customer. The place was filthy and dead looking, the bartender older than ever.

"Hey, Aberforth," Teddy said solemnly.

"Good to see you, Lupin. How are things up at the castle these days?"

"Like you care."

"Can't you acknowledge that I'm striving for some social skills? I tried to make small talk for once…"

"You suck at it, Aberforth," Teddy teased. "I like you better when you get straight to the point."

"Well, Lupin, I don't have much of a point. The Shack ain't been Shriekin' lately."

"Nah, Holly's got the right Wolfsbane now," Teddy said, referring to his best friend, the werewolf currently at Hogwarts. Since his father, Hogwarts had allowed a few werewolves to attend.

"You hang out with the lowlifes up at the castle." Aberforth was blunt.

"Yeah, and here in Hogsmeade, too." Teddy grinned. "Who else spends all their afternoons in here shooting the breeze with you?"

Aberforth scowled. "No one, kid."

Teddy laughed, then froze. _What if he means it?_

Aberforth chuckled. "Don't get so worked up, Lupin, I'm used to it. I've lived like this for a hundred and sixty years. No one acknowledges me."

"I do. I notice you."

"Yeah, but that's because you're weird, Lupin."

Teddy sighed. Aberforth crackled with magical energy. The recipes he created in the bar were incredibly creative and delicious. His sense of justice was spot on, as good as Hermione's, though expressed more crudely. Sometimes, Teddy thought Aberforth could have been as powerful as his brother if he wanted to be.

But Teddy was the only one who saw this. All the other students saw an old man who didn't bother to keep his bar clean. Adults saw Albus Dumbledore's idiot brother, the one who never amounted to anything. Teddy thought it was stupid, Aberforth was something. He was a spit-fire and an excellent cook, albeit a bit socially inept.

"Snap out of it Lupin. I don't need your pity. Want a butterbeer?"

Teddy held up a sickle. "No, Lupin, on the house. I've got all the money I need."

As Teddy sat sipping his butterbeer, Luna entered. "Hello, Aberforth. I trust you made your special fig pancakes this morning?"

Teddy coughed. Luna knew about Aberforth's pancakes?

"Yes, Lovegood. I have some leftover if you'd like one."

"Another time. Today, Teddy and I have a mission."

"Ah. Shoulda known you two get along."

Luna and Teddy walked down the way. "Aberforth's a great guy," Teddy said. "I reckon he's as smart as his brother, just doesn't believe it. Cause he doesn't, no one does."

"You have keen eyes, Teddy."

"What are you doing in Britain anyway?"

"Visiting my father. It's my mother's birthday, you know."

"I didn't." Teddy was quiet for a moment. "My mum's birthday is next week."

"Are you doing anything?"

"I'll send Curtis to the grave with some flowers."

"Are we going to Little Whinging? Privet Drive?"

"Yeah. I hope you understand—"

"I do, actually. Take my arm."

Teddy braced himself. He didn't like apparating, but he'd done it with his grandmother plenty of times. He and Luna were squeezed tight. Teddy choked, struggling to breathe.

"I hate that."

"I do too. It is a most disgusting sensation."

Teddy glanced about. He was in the most boring neighborhood he'd ever seen. The houses were exactly the same. No one was out walking. They were shut in, rotting, for all Teddy knew. Teddy's eyes landed on Number Four. Its lawn was greener, its flowers more perfect. It was sort of pretty in its own boring way.

Teddy screwed up his face. Holly always said this made him look constipated. Teddy felt his hair shrink, willing it to turn brown. He felt his waist expand, and silently cursed himself for not bringing a larger pair of trousers. He took out a small mirror. In his own opinion, he resembled the Dudley Harry had occasionally described to him.

Teddy took a deep breath and knocked at the door. "Petunia, can you get the door, darling?"

A bony, horse-faced woman flung the door open. She gasped, placing her hand over her heart. "Dear, you look so much like my son."

_That's the idea. _"Petunia Dursley?"

"Yes, dear. Do come in."

"Petunia, who—" a fat, neckless man appeared behind his wife, freezing when he saw Teddy. "Well, hello there son. You're a good looking chap. What brings you here today?"

"It's a long story. We might want to—er—sit down."

They did so, and Petunia brought out a kettle of tea. "I don't know where to start…"

"Start with your name, dear."

"Er…well, my name is Edward, but I go by Ted. I'm Ted Smith. Say, you don't remember Suzanna, do you?"

"Suzanna Smith…oh, yes she was a darling girl!"

Teddy internally sighed with relief. He'd looked through the records at Dudley's primary school and selected a name that felt right.

"Well, were you aware that she and Dudley were, like, together?"

"Dudders and Suzie? No, how wonderful!" squealed Petunia.

Vernon, however, was catching on quicker. "Edward, are you claiming to be Dudley's kid?"

"Err, yeah, I am. My mum said all of you had to move, but Dudley wouldn't tell you where. The night before you left, they well…and mum couldn't find you after the pregnancy. By the time she found Dudley again, she'd got a new boyfriend. Ron raised me like his own son. Just now that I'm you know, older, I wanted to find your family. You're my biological grandparents."

Petunia looked thrilled, Vernon, indifferent. "Why, welcome to our home, Teddy!"

"Nice to meet you kid, but I'm not sure why you came. You don't really need us, do you?"

"No. I just have questions."

At the mention of questions, both faces turned sour. Harry had said that his aunt and uncle weren't thrilled by questions.

"What sort of questions, boy?"

Teddy did not like Vernon's tone as he said the word "boy." "I want to ask about your family. About my father, and what he was like as a kid. Did he play sports? Or did he prefer school? What shows did he watch? How did he get along with his brother?"

Vernon glared at Teddy. "Dudley was an only child."

"An only child," snapped Petunia. "I would never destroy him by having another child."

"No, mum said he had a brother. Younger I think. Harvey, or Harry. Something like that. Mum remembered him, too."

Now Vernon and Petunia looked afraid. "Our nephew lived with us for a few years, but he was a bad kid. Got into loads of trouble. We were glad to get shot of him."

"How terrible for you," Teddy said, though inside he burned with anger. "My dad was the good kid, then?"

"Dudders was an angel growing up," sighed Petunia. "Always loved his food."

"He was tough, too," Vernon added. "Always won his fights."

"Who did he fight?"

"His cousin, the neighbors. Anyone who insulted him."

"His cousin insulted him? How terrible. What did he say?"

"Terrible things. Liked calling our beautiful child a 'pig in a wig.' He never learned his lesson."

"Did you try to get him to learn his lesson?"

"Oh, heavens yes. We'd send him to his cu—room. We made him skip dinner."

"Really? Did you do things like that a lot?"

"Had to. He'd cause trouble, and we'd lock him in. We fed him enough to keep him alive of course, but not so much he'd get content, you know."

"That seems to be a suitable way to deal with a troubled boy." Teddy tried to sound sincere, he honestly did. But the deep disgust he felt manifested in sarcasm. The way Vernon said "lock him" in made Teddy sick.

Vernon grunted in agreement. Petunia, on the other hand, hissed: "I suppose your mother does the same for you, Edward."

"Yeah. She's got me under control."

"That's good. We never did get the Potter-freak under control," Vernon growled.

"Freak? Why do you say freak?"

"Enough questions about that. Don't you want to hear about our Dudders?"

"Why did you call him freak?" Teddy was an honest Hufflepuff, and he was struggling to keep his disguised persona.

Petunia glared at him. "Vernon, I'm not sure he is who he says he is."

"What'd'ya mean? The kid looks like Dudley."

"You can't always trust what you see."

_Merlin, they already know!_ Teddy hadn't planned to reveal his identity at all, let alone five minutes into their conversation. Ah, well, life doesn't always go as planned.

"That's right, Aunt Petunia," Teddy said, screwing up his face, and morphed into someone that looked a bit like a young Harry. "I'm Harry Potter's godson, and I'm not happy about the way you treated my godfather."

"Get out of my house," Vernon said evenly. "If I never see you again, no one will get hurt."

"And _I'm sure_ you said that to Harry when he was a kid."

"If I had, he would've left immediately."

"I wonder why," Teddy quipped. "Could it be that he hated looking at your walrus face?"

"You little freak." Vernon's face purpled. He grabbed Teddy roughly on the shoulder. "Don't you dare insult me."

Teddy was scared out of his wits, but he didn't show it. Harry must have been through worse, much worse. Sixteen years of it.

"Why you had to come lurking here is beyond me." Vernon shook Teddy. "Don't you people have the decency to leave my family alone?" Vernon leaned back, dragging Teddy with him. Teddy's heart pounded, he struggled to get free.

_Bang! _ Someone appeared in the living room, shouting: "Dursley, let go of my godson!" Harry's eyes flashed. He held his wand steadily, pointing it at Vernon's head. "I swear, if you don't unhand him I'll kill you."

Vernon released Teddy, shaking.

"If you _ever_ touch one of my children again you will wish you had never been born."

Teddy shuddered. Surely that was a bit harsh, even for Vernon.

"Ted, let's go. I don't have anything to say to these people."

"Harry—" Petunia started.

"See you, Petunia. Thanks for nothing."

Harry grabbed Teddy's arm and Apparated to the Potter's house in Godric's Hollow. They walked behind the house to the back garden and sat in silence.

"Teddy, why?" Harry's voice was soft, but so full it broke a little.

Teddy gulped. He hadn't thought about the consequences this misadventure would have for his godfather. "Are you angry at me?"

"Yes, Ted." Harry ran his hands through his hair nervously. "You could have been seriously hurt today."

"You could have too, you know."

"I've got a wand."

"No. I mean before. When you lived there."

Harry groaned. "That's beside the point."

"I wanted to understand."

"I get that. I really do. But putting your safety at risk does not justify knowing. Besides, I could answer your questions better than the Dursleys."

"I didn't want to hurt you."

"A few questions might shake me up. Seeing you in Vernon's hands was pure torture." Harry's face contorted in rage. "I never wanted to you to experience that."

Teddy flinched. "You weren't supposed to know."

Harry raised his eyebrows. "Aberforth flooed me and said he overheard you and Luna talking about visiting some Muggles. I assumed you wouldn't be so secretive about visiting the Grangers."

"Are you mad at Luna?"

"I'll be having a talk with her." Harry took a deep breath. He closed his eyes a moment, opening them after a long moment. "Do you want to talk about what you saw?"

Teddy paused, feeling a great weight on his chest. Harry had suffered so much. What he had seen today was harsh, almost too harsh. Any conversation about it was sure to be ugly. Letting it go, however, would perhaps be uglier.

"Were they as bad as they looked?"

"Sometimes they were worse." Harry's eyes darkened. "I lived in the cupboard under the stairs until I was almost eleven. If they weren't happy with me, I didn't eat."

Teddy processed what his godfather was saying. It hurt to hear, but he knew that much already. He had to press on, to find out what else Harry went through. "Did they hit you?"

"Dudley beat me up whenever he could. Vernon and Petunia would shove and shake me, or sometimes throw things at me. There were occasions when they used physical punishments." Harry spoke evenly, not revealing emotion.

Since Vernon had grabbed him, Teddy had suspected as much. Harry's nonchalance about that disturbed him, though. He wondered if there had been worse, and whispered: "Did you ever think you would die?"

"At the Dursleys'? Only once, the summer before my second year. They locked me in a room and put a catflap on the door. The food wasn't enough, and the confinement was really getting to me. Ronf has a picture of me that summer, and I was a stick." Harry laughed at the last comment, which made Teddy uncomfortable.

"Aren't you angry? Or at least upset?"

Harry shrugged. "Ted, this was a long time ago, and I've fought bigger battles. Before Hogwarts, the Dursleys' were my only life. I was used to all of it."

"Did you have a friend to help you or something?"

Only now did Harry's voice betray any hurt. "I was alone, Ted. Before I left for Hogwarts, no one cared about what happened to me."

This was somehow worse than hearing about the Dursely's cruelty. "How did you survive?"

Harry was quiet. "Survive physically? Teddy, you'd be surprised what people can endure. But every day, I ask myself how I managed to avoid becoming like Voldemort. I'm not sure I have the answer."

"Voldemort? What does he have to do with it?"

"His childhood wasn't that different than mine."

Teddy shivered. He'd never imagined Voldemort as a child. It was natural, of course, everyone was born and grew. But the man that had brought about the deaths of his parents always seemed to Teddy some sort of evil force which had no origins. Voldemort had been a child. He'd been a baby, a baby no more evil than little Lily. And somehow it had all gone wrong…

Teddy refused to believe for a moment that his godfather could have become such a demon. No, Harry radiated goodness; it was something innate in him. He wanted to say something to communicate this to his godfather, but it died in his throat as Harry spoke.

"I wonder if being hunted did something to my morals. Knowing every day could be my last. I could never bring that kind of horror on someone else."

"Hunted?!" Teddy knew Voldemort had tried to kill his godfather several times before he was seventeen. But he had never given it such a sinister name, thought of all the disgusting implications of it.

"That's what Voldemort did; he hunted me like an animal. Teddy, I know this isn't easy for you to hear, but I also know you can handle it. When I was your age, I saw him come back to life."

"What happened?" Teddy was morbidly curious, he wanted to know what that meant. He knew it would hurt to know, just as it hurt to know about the ten years Harry had spent in constant loneliness. But he yearned to understand Harry.

"Do you want to know that?"

Harry sounded so surprised, Teddy thought about lying. But look how far that had gotten him today. Hufflepuffs were never good liars. "Yeah, I want to know. I want to know everything about you. I want to understand what you went through. Good and bad. I want to know you completely."

"Well, then, you can. I would be honored to have you understand me better. But, say, Teddy, can we do that another day?"

Teddy breathed a sigh of relief. "Sure. Take your time. I've learned enough for today. Going to the Dursleys—"

The fury returned to Harry's face. "Edward Remus Lupin, you listen to me. I never want you to return to that house."

"I'm sorry, Harry."

"I didn't ask you to apologize. Just don't go back."

"But I really—"

"No, it's my fault. I should have told you before you had to ask. I should have been open with everyone. Luna would not have brought you there if she knew what they were like." Harry shook his head. "Let's go inside for dinner, shall we? You can head back to school tomorrow."

Harry and Teddy walked toward the house together. Teddy glanced at his godfather, who he now saw in a different light.

"Wait," Teddy said. Harry paused with his hand on the doorknob. "No matter what, you would never be Voldemort. Merlin, Harry, you'd never even be a git like Vernon. Your goodness is part of you."

Harry let go of the doorknob, smiling. He swung his arm around Teddy and pulled him close. "What am I going to do with you kid?"


End file.
